Die Trying
by The Everlasting Echo
Summary: The elimination of the cats with "impure" blood in the Clans have begun. Can Redflame rise to the challenge and bring it to an end before they're all slaughtered?
1. Prologue

**Ohai :D This is my entry for the "Strength to Go On" Contest on the Warriors Challenge forum. I Hope you like it~**

**Disclaimer- I don't own warriors and all that jazz. **

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For generations rogues, loners and even kittypets have been joining our Clans. I'm even the descendant of one such cat, a kittypet gone Clan cat that even managed to become my Clan's leader. Firestar was his name, and it's a commonplace to hear stories of the great leader in the ThunderClan camp, even though countless seasons have passed since he lived.

It's said he faced challenges when he first joined, ridicule and downright rejection from many. But he didn't let that stop him as he overcame it all and became of of the most remembered and admired Clan leaders in history.

Many cats have joined our Clans like Firestar did since then, though not all have become as great as him. And some have become much, much worse. Pinestar is a prime example of this. Born a rogue, he was accepted into ShadowClan and worked his way up to being leader. Barely a moon into his leadership he declared war on the other three Clans, and lead his cats into battle after pointless battle. Five moons later, he lost his last life in a battle with RiverClan and finally his curse was lifted from the forest.

But his reign left deep scars in our hearts, some more than others. At the next gathering Lilystar, leader of WindClan, declared that it was due to his rogue blood that Pinestar nearly destroyed us, and that cats with "impure" blood had no place among the Clans. She claimed it would be "better" for the four Clans as a whole.

RiverClan's leader, a dappled brown tom by the name of Mudstar, immediately agreed with her, and the two made a plan to eliminate all cats from their Clan without purely Clan blood. Ivystar, of ThunderClan and Sharpstar, new leader of ShadowClan, were more reluctant to join the alliance, because it was well known that ThunderClan had taken in many kittypets and loners in the past, and ShadowClan had rogues.

However, in both Clans, there were cats who agreed with Lilystar and Mudstar. They just turned on their Clan-mates, resulting in many warriors, apprentices, elders and even kits being slain without mercy.

Sharpstar agreed to join the other two leaders soon after this started to stop his Clan from completely tearing itself apart. Those days were all too full of bloodshed and fear.

When Ivystar finally joined not long after Sharpstar, that's when it got really bad. My leader felt she was doing the right thing for her remaining cats, but many of us were just disgusted that she gave in.

A group rose up then, lead by my father, whose name was Russetclaw. I'm proud to say I was a part of that group, as was my sister, Firebird. We consisted of both the remaining "impure cats," as they've come to be called, as well as cats from all the Clans who were just dead set against the new ways. We were quite the formidable group, totaling in well over thirty cats in all.

Russetclaw found us a safe camp half a day's journey from the lake, and we stayed there for a half moon, recovering from the mental and physical wounds of what had happened.

I remember the day my sister came to me and confided that she was expecting kits. I became angry at how terrified she was. Having kits should be a happy time, but she was right to be scared I suppose. No kit should be born into a world so full of hate and fighting.

On the night of the full moon Russetclaw lead a patrol of a little over twenty warriors back to the lake, leaving the oldest cats, queens and younger apprentices with a few strong warriors to look after them, behind.

Our instructions were clear, go to the island while the gathering was going on and try and reason with the leaders to take back what they'd said, allow us to come back where we belonged.

How I wish it actually happened like that.

Before we could even say our peace, the leaders ordered an attack, and every warrior present did indeed attack us, aiming to kill.

A bloody battle ensued, resulting in the death of Clan and "Impure" alike. I was lucky to get out with my life.

It was toward the end of the battle that my father's yowl sounded above the screeches and screams of the fighting. "Remember my friends, we are Clan cats in our hearts, no matter what they may say. As long as we have our faith, and as long as you believe, you will have the strength to go on and beat this!"

"Silence!" Lilystar's furious caterwaul made the fighting cats pause and all turned to look at her as she leaped forward and slashed her claws against Russetclaw's throat, killing him in an instant.

I was horrified as I watched my much beloved father slump to the ground, dead. But I knew I had to get our cats out of there before they were all killed.

"Everyone fall back, retreat!" My yowl was all it took to snap them out of it, and the eleven of us who were still alive shoved our way through the Clan cats and back across the tree bridge.

No cat pursued us as fled, but their cries of triumph echoed in my ears all the way back to our makeshift camp.

It was then that I knew, we had to win. As long as I had breath in my body, I'd fight for these cats to get the life they deserved. I'd fight for Firebird and her unborn kits. I'd fight for my father, and all the other cats who'd lost their lives in this pointless war against us.

Really, it was all I could do. But I'd gladly give my life if it would bring this to an end...

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**I hoped you like it, though I'm not overly fond of this. Next chapter will be better, promise~**

**Please review with your thoughts.**

**~Berry-Chan~**


	2. Chapter 1

**Finally updated this. I'm kinda dissapointed because I'd aimed to have this up days ago, and it's sorta short... But oh well, it's up now. ^^' I'm quite proud of this chapter, even though none of the real "Action" or whatever has happened yet, that will start next chapter, promise. And chapter two is already halfway typed, so I'll hopefully have it done soon. And it will be longer than this one, which barely crossed the 1,000 word limit. **

**Here's the second chapter of my "Strength To Go On" contest entry.**

**Enjoy :D**

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Gray clouds covered the sky, blocking out the normally bright midday sun, darkening the clearing between the rocky cliff in which our cave was in, and the forest, giving it a peaceful and yet ominous feel.

'_Amberpelt's patrol should be back soon_.' I observed from where I crouched just inside the cave entrance, looking up at the sky. The former RiverClan she-cat led out a patrol earlier that day, a mock border patrol I suppose, as we didn't exactly _have_ borders. They were to scout for any sign of Clan cats straying too close to makeshift camp in the cave.

In the nearly five moons since my father's death, we'd caught regular patrols of Clan cats spying on us, so we'd set up a patrolling system to keep them out. So far it's worked fairly well and we'd been able to keep them away, but we still weren't about to let our guard down anytime soon.

Most of the cats living here together had settled down and grown to trust one another, despite what Clans they'd come from. I knew a lot of them missed things in the forest before the "_Cleansing_" as it's come to be called, but over the last moon or so, I'd heard several cats referring to our group as "RockClan," named for the rocky area we'd settled in.

I wasn't sure what to think of this at first. Sure, we did have plenty of cats to make a Clan; warriors, apprentices, kits and even a medicine cat, but the only problem I saw is that we didn't have a named leader. Most cats looked to me for guidance because I was Russetclaw's son, but that's not what I wanted. I would gladly give up my life for any of them, but I didn't _want_ to lead.

Though if I was to think of myself as leader, Smokerise would be my deputy. The former ShadowClan she-cat had become my most trusted ally, next to Firebird of course, and she mainly handled patrols, and any other things I needed help with, much like a real deputy would.

I shook my head as I thought of this. It was all so complicated. Things used to be so much simpler, easier, back when I was just a regular ThunderClan warrior.

Sensing another cat coming up beside me broke me out of my almost daze-like state, and I turned to see my sister looking at me, concern in her blue eyes as she settled beside me.

"Redflame, is something wrong? You seem troubled." She murmured.

I sighed and leaned against her, my ginger tabby pelt brushing against her dark ginger one. "It's all just so hard."

Firebird's expression softened and she touched her nose to my cheek. "I know." She meowed comfortingly. "But you're the cat who can get us out of this. Things are already getting better."

I growled at this, I really couldn't help it. "Why does every cat think_ I'm_ the one who can help them? I can't, I'm nothing special, other than the fact that Russetclaw is my father."

"Is that really what you think?" She asked, sounding almost shocked. "They look to you for guidance because you're brave, and you care for each and every one of them. They don't care about who our father was. They care about RockClan's future, and you're the one who can best help us get that good future we need, a future without the other Clan's breathing down our necks and controlling us."

"I guess." I muttered, my whiskers twitching as I thought over her words.

Firebird nodded her head. "And I believe in you too Redflame."

Sighing, I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could frantic yowling of alarm sounded not far away. My eyes snapped back to the line of trees as three cats bounded up the slopetowards the cave. It was Amberpelt's patrol, and by the looks of things something had happened.

"They're coming, They're coming!" They were yowling. Getting to my paws I faced Amberpelt intently as the three cats came to a stop in front of me on the rock. "What happened? Who's coming?"

The golden brown she-cat was breathing heavily as she answered. "The Clans sent a patrol. There's eight of them, two from each Clan by the looks of it. That was too many for the three of us to take on so we came back here as soon as we could."

I looked at the other two cats. They were both former ShadowClan; Webtail was staring back at the trees, intent look in his amber eyes, waiting for the Clan cats to make their move, and Skypaw was crouched down, gasping for breath, clearly exhausted by the hard run back here, as she had to fight to keep up with two much older warriors.

"I'll alert the others." Firebird murmured, and slipped back into the cave where the rest of the Clan was.

"Any idea what they want?" I asked Amberpelt once she was gone.

But the she-cat shook her head. "No idea." She admitted. "We saw them and immediately came back here to report it."

I nodded to her approvingly. "That's alright, I'd have done the same thing."

It was then that I started to hear movement and frantic meowing coming from farther inside the cave as Firebird explained the situation.

I was about to go inside to reassure them, when Webtail let out a low threatening growl. When I glanced back at him I saw that the dark gray tom had flattened his ears and his lips were drawn back in a snarl.

Following his gaze back to the forest, my own green eyes narrowed as the eight Clan cats emerged from the trees and onto the clearing, their head and tails held high as they stopped halfway to the rocky slope that we were on. I wanted nothing more than to spit at them at how calm, cocky and confident they seemed, but I forced myself to remain calm as I padded forward to the edge of the large rock outside the cave to address them.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, a snarl creeping into my done despite my efforts to keep it out.

Amberpelt and Webtail moved up to flank me and Skypaw moved on Amberpelt's other side, the three of them hissing threateningly, their claws scraping against the stone. I motioned with my tail for them to stand down as one of the cats, a slender ShadowClan tortoiseshell whose name I believed to be Cherrytooth, padded forward from the rest.

"Hello Redflame." She greeted cheekily, though her yellow eyes glowed with evil intent. "We bring an you an order from the Clans!"

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**Hope you liked it. ^^**

**As I said, I'll try and get the next chapter out soon, promise. **

**Review with your thoughts~!**

**~-Berrypaw of the warriors Challenge forum~**


	3. Chapter 2

**Here we are. Chapter two :D I'm sorry for the sorta long wait, didn't mean for that to happen. I really gotta hurry up because the deadline for this is in like four days and I still need to finish two more chapters and the epilogue. I hope I make it! Dx Rarara...**

**So anyway. Here's the chapter, enjoy~**

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"We don't take orders from the Clans anymore!" A voice spat before I could respond, and Smokerise slid between me and Webtail. Glancing at her, I saw that her mottled gray fur was bristling in anger and her yellow eyes were narrowed as she glared viciously at her former Clan-mate.

Apparently since the Cleansing, ShadowClan had become the most loyal followers of the new Code against impure blooded cats, as they were eager to prove that they were strong and worthy of their place at the lake with the other three Clans, especially seeing how it was their own leader, Pinestar, who started this whole mess.

I touched the end of my tail to her shoulder and turned back to the cats below as several other RockClan warriors emerged from the cave and lined up facing the intruders, hissing threateningly as their claws scraped at the rock.

"I wish I could say you're welcome here, but you and your leader's orders are not." I growled to Cherrytooth. "I suggest that you leave now before we're forced to make you."

A second cat padded forward to stand by Cherrytooth, a black and white WindClan tom named Badgerface. From what I'd heard, he was one of Lilystar's favored. The warrior sighed and replied calmly, sounding almost bored. "Just listen. Once you hear what we have to say, then you can choose whether to ignore us or not. It's your choice, but we're giving you a fair warning of what's to come. You'd be fools not to listen."

My eyes narrowed at this. What did he mean? But I nodded at him to go on. I'd give them a chance to explain themselves at least.

"Good." The black and white tom replied, flicking an ear. "At the last gathering, our leaders all decided that you filth living out here and calling yourselves a Clan, following StarClan and the warrior code was unacceptable, something that must be taken care of."

I heard several of the cats around me growl at this, and I heard one murmur angrily, "It's like we're nothing more than an annoying bug that must be squashed to them."

Badgerface paused, holding his head higher looking almost smug. I curled my lip at him as one of his companions, a RiverClan tabby whose name I didn't know, continued from where the WindClan cat left off.

"So we were sent here by our leaders to inform you that you have exactly one quarter moon from today to leave this place and go far away. If you refuse then we will come here and make you leave by force, killing as many of you as we can in the process."

"Why can't you just leave us alone!" Smokerise spat, her tail lashing. "We're not yours or your leader's to control and order around anymore!"

I too was fighting to contain my anger at this point. We were causing them no problems and trouble, and yet the Clan cats can't seem to leave us alone. "Smokerise is right." I called out, narrowing my eyes at them. "Your leaders are tampering with things that should be left alone. This is our place now, and we will fight tooth and claw to defend it."

My cats yowled their agreement at the intruders and they nodded, turning to each other and whispering amongst themselves. After several heartbeats Duskfoot, my former Clan-mate, turned to look up at me, his yellow eyes showed no regret or remorse for us as he meowed, "That is your decision, though for your own sakes, I hope you change your minds and make things easier for the both of us. If you don't, we'll be back in a quarter moon."

"And we'll be ready and waiting." I replied with a growl.

The black tom nodded, and the eight Clan cats turned and padded back into the trees and back towards the lake. They had no reason to linger now. If what they said was true, they'd be back soon enough, bringing a formidable fighting force with them.

Silence hung over us for several heartbeats after they'd gone. A gray warrior by the name of Bluefang broke it as he mewed quietly. "So what're we going to go now?"

"Fight of course!" Littleclaw, small black tom replied immediately, a challenging snarl in his voice. "We're not going to let them chase of out of our home into the unknown again, are we?"

"Oh course not." I told them, eyes narrowing furiously at the thought. "But we can't be rash about it or else they will destroy us." My tone was that of a true leader I supposed, calm but having the stern commanding tone in it that would reassure them that I knew what I was doing, though inside I was panicking. How was I supposed to lead the twenty or so warriors we had up against all four Clans at once? Sure they were greatly weakened, and their ranks were much lower than before the Cleansing when they were at full strength, but we were still gravely outnumbered.

"How are we supposed to beat them?" Heatherfur, a sleek gray and white she-cat questioned, voicing my thoughts. "They have more warriors than we do, and if I know Lilystar at all, she'll stop at nothing to drive us away. Even if it means sacrificing half her Clan to do so. She's ruthless."

Heatherfur and her brother, Emberstep, were the only two former WindClan cats we had in RockClan, and I got the feeling they were both pressured to prove themselves to the others due to what Lilystar had done, though I didn't know of any cat that blamed them for what happened just because they were WindClan. They were both strong, suitable warriors, and I for one at least, felt they'd always have a place here.

"If that's what it takes to show that good for nothing she-cat that we belong here than so be it!" Smokerise was meowing. "Even if it just gets them to leave us alone, we will fight."

I nodded gravely. We'd need to keep our strength up for when the battle came, and I wouldn't put it past the leaders to send cats to spy on what we were doing for the days to come. But I knew we had to keep them away. "We'll increase patrols for now, both to hunt to keep our strength up and to watch for any sign of them keeping an eye on us," I told my cats, feeling like this would give us as good a start to this as any. "We will also start a strict training schedule for both our apprentices and warriors so that we're ready and prepared for the fight when they come."

Most of the warriors were nodding, accepting this, but a few were looking skeptical. Not that I could blame them, for I was wondering if I was really doing the right thing by leading them into this battle, not that I'd even openly admit it to them of course. I had to accept that they saw me as their leader, so I had to be strong for them.

"I can take care of the patrols if you'd like." Smokerise mewed quietly to me, a glimmer of understanding in her amber eyes as she looked at me.

I pressed my muzzle to hers and sighed in relief. "Yes thank you. That would help a great deal."

The gray she-cat purred softly, briefly twining our tails together before she turned to the rest of our cats. "Alright. Pinetail, Snakefang and Duskpaw, come with me. We'll go make sure those mange-pelts are really gone and while we're out there we'll catch as much freshkill as we can find."

The three cats she'd indicated nodded obediently and the patrol made their way down the slope and crossed over to the trees, disappearing among the undergrowth.

Watching them go, I sighed once again, turning my gaze back up to the cloudy sky as the rest of the warriors and apprentices separated. Some went back into the cave and others went down to the clearing to start the first of the training bouts.

"Am I really doing the right thing?" I asked myself under my breath. "StarClan help us through this."

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I believe I promised this chapter would be longer than the last, and I guess I kept that promise... It's about 100 words longer. If that counts... ^^'

Anyhoo~! Review with your thoughts(:

~Berry~


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